Challenges girls with disabilities face in the classroom
Grace Nova and Enas Yousif are fighting to make sure that every girl with a disability is able to realise her right to education.
Inaccessible environments, lack of appropriate learning materials, shortage of qualified teachers and discrimination from peers are just some of the barriers they face.
There are at least 93 million children with disabilities around the world — but too often education systems aren’t equipped to meet their needs. Inaccessible environments, lack of appropriate learning materials, shortage of qualified teachers and discrimination from peers are some of the barriers preventing students with disabilities from completing their education.
As a young person who is deaf, 20-year-old UNICEF Sudan Youth activist Enas Yousif has experienced firsthand the challenges students with disabilities face in accessing quality education. “In my community, children with disabilities are the most disadvantaged and they don’t have access to appropriate schools and education centers,” Enas explains. “In Port Sudan there is only one school for deaf, the school is far from the community and children need to take unsafe roads to reach, which results in dropping out of school.”
Girls with disabilities often face even more challenges than their male counterparts. “[They] are often discriminated against twice,” explains Alice Ford, Senior Programmes Officer at Able Child Africa, citing the compounding oppression of gender and ability. “This double discrimination puts them at a greater risk of emotional, physical and sexual abuse than almost any other.” Girls with disabilities are 10 times more likely to experience violence than girls without disabilities. And girls and women with disabilities around the world have a 1% literacy rate.
Lack of support or education about menstruation prevents many girls with disabilities from continuing their education. In Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, Able Child Africa works with girls with visual impairments who have been caught unawares during periods, causing embarrassment and hygiene issues. Others who are hard of hearing or have learning disabilities can’t learn about this natural change in their bodies because schools do not teach this information in an accessible manner.
We’ve highlighted some of the challenges girls with disabilities face in the classroom and how organisations and activists are working to break down these barriers and create more positive and accepting school environments.
Lack of inclusive education.
Inclusive education means that everything at school — from teaching, books and the curriculum to buildings, equipment, transportation and toilets — is appropriate for and accessible to all children. It welcomes every student and ensures that each one has the support and resources they need to thrive.
Alice says that “inclusive education helps children with disabilities succeed by breaking down environmental barriers that may be small but detrimental to successful learning.” For example, classrooms can show information in different formats, adjust lighting and seating for those students who are hard of hearing or visually impaired and provide water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) facilities that are inclusive. In Rwanda in 2018, Able Child Africa and partner organisation Uwezo Youth Empowerment (“uwezo” means “ability” in Swahili) worked with girls with disabilities to create a mentoring program to build confidence and teach them about good hygiene practices after realising that the previous WASH facilities were preventing girls with disabilities from going to school.
Unfortunately, many schools do not provide inclusive education and instead choose to separate children with disabilities. This separation in schools can make children with disabilities feel excluded from their peers. Research shows that both children with and without disabilities benefit from being educated in inclusive settings.
“In my community, we as deaf people study in separate schools that are not part of the regular education system, which contributes to more isolation from the community. Also, most of the teachers aren’t qualified enough to support us and advocate for our rights to inclusion.”
Enas experienced this type of exclusion in her Sudanese school. “In my community, we as deaf people study in separate schools that are not part of the regular education system, which contributes to more isolation from the community,” she shares. “Also, most of the teachers aren’t qualified enough to support us and advocate for our rights to inclusion.” Enas explains that as a deaf student, one of the main challenges she faces is the lack of teachers and translators who understand sign language.
15-year-old Grace Nova — a TikTok star who shares about her life with Escobar syndrome with her over 25,000 followers — hopes to see a shift in how schools treat students with disabilities. “Embrace diversity — not just race, socioeconomic background and sex, but disability as well,” she encourages school officials and teachers. “Also, just pay attention to detail, be flexible and think creatively. Schools need to look to change the rules, create different systems and truly welcome each individual.”
Discrimination and negative attitudes.
Discrimination and negative attitudes from peers and members of the community impact children with disabilities, especially girls who are more likely to experience low self-esteem than boys. Alyssa Porter, the Executive Director of Special Books by Special Kids (SBSK) — a disability platform with over two billion views on social media — explains that the U.S. school system often fails students with disabilities. “In America, systems were not designed with people with disabilities in mind,” Alyssa shares. “Accommodations for children with disabilities in school should be seen by what they are, tools to help these students achieve a goal. We’ve talked to a lot of parents who say that their kid has been really bullied at school, but the administration isn't willing to help.”
Grace Nova shares about her life with Escobar syndrome with her over 25,000 followers on TikTok. (Courtesy of Grace Nova)
Grace experienced discrimination for having a disability during her K-12 education in the U.S. “Currently, I go to a public charter school here in Texas,” she explains. “When my family and I were looking for schools, there was a school that we were interested in, but you had to take a test to be admitted and had a low acceptance rate. The school was quite ableist, and did not like to accept disabled people. They did not want diversity; that school did not want me because I was disabled.”
Through her TikTok account, Grace works to ensure that other students see themselves and their potential on social media. “I want kids and teens with disabilities or differences to think ‘She is just like me!’ I want them to know that they are not alone,” she shares. “Just because you have a disability does NOT mean that you can’t be talented or do the things that you dream of doing. Sometimes it is really difficult to put yourself out there to be judged and criticized. And other times there are personal things that I really don’t want to share. But I view it as an opportunity to give others a platform and voice.”
Inaccessible environments.
Schools need to be accessible to all students; elevators, ramps and wheelchair-accessible toilets should be the standard. Lucha Villar — a physical education teacher and president of NPC PERÚ — shares that in Peru “there aren't good transportation services for children with disabilities and not all schools are accessible.” This stops a lot of Peruvian students from simply getting an education. That’s why Lucha and her students do wheelchair fundraisers in their school and try to get at least one wheelchair per classroom.
Enas sees similar issues in her community. “In Port Sudan there is only one school for deaf people, the school is far from the community and children need to take unsafe roads to reach, which results in dropping out of school,” she shares. “Many women with disabilities do not go out because they’re afraid of abuse and exploitation.”
Grace’s school infrastructure can sometimes be a challenge. “My campus is very spread out and there are so many hills so the biggest challenge is the walking and stairs,” she says. “For example, on one day I have to go down a hill (a ton of stairs) to drop my bag off for my third class of the day and then go back UP that hill with more stairs and then go up even MORE stairs!!” However, her school’s support helps her navigate these challenges. “By law, schools have to accommodate the disabled, but my school goes beyond and most of the teachers and administrators try to make me feel welcomed and cared for,” she shares. “Overall, I am so grateful for a school that truly cares about my well-being.”
Grace wants all girls to feel the same support at their schools. That’s why she, Enas and other young disability rights activists around the world are fighting to make sure that every girl with disabilities is able to realise her right to free, safe, quality education.
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